Rattling Badge Pins and how to stop it/them

26 July 2017 2:53:01 PM AEST

We recently had an enquiry from one of our customers:"How can we stop our pins rattling in our badges?"

We had never had this question in all our years of being involved in the badge making industry, so we thought we would respond with a blog article:

Badge pins are almost always a loose fit in the backs of badges, due to the requirement for sufficient room to allow the badge pins to be inserted within the two holes at the back of the badge (this excludes the rarer D pin clip that you mostly only see in 25 mm or 1 inch badges).

There are essentially two ways to stop the pins rattling;

include some packing in between the dome (shell) and the back of the badge during manufacture. This packing if it is of sufficient thickness will not interfere with the badge making, but will hold the pin firmly against the back of the badge.

For more creative pin locking, we might suggest using a glue to hold the pin in position.

In the photograph on this blog page, you will see we have essentially placed the back of the badge with the back of the back facing upwards. In other words, the outside of the badge back, as you would see it when the badge is complete, is facing down. Please look at the photo that will make this explanation a lot more understandable.

You will notice we have used two barbecue safety matches to hold the back of the badge off the work surface, we did that to ensure that the pin rests in its normal position with the back of the pin flush with the surface of the back of the badge. We only used barbecue safety matches as they were approximately the correct size, you can use any other suitable sized prop.

Once we have set up the back of the badge in the correct position with the pin flush against the surface of the back of the badge it is a simple matter to use a small amount of glue to lock the pin in place.We did use a hot melt glue gun, this would work quite well on a plastic back badge, however, it was not as successful on the metal back badge that you see in the photo. After testing we realised that we should have used a glue more suitable for metal surfaces.

In conclusion, our two solutions did certainly stop the pins rattling, but in all fairness, the pins only rattle when the badge is not in use. When the badge is pinned to clothing of course the pin doesn't rattle at all!

Any other thoughts on securing badge pins are always welcome, and we will update this blog page with any other suitable suggestions.